Payment Methods

Mail requests: Money order or cashier's check made payable to S.C. DPH

Onsite customer service:

• Money order or cashier's check made payable to S.C. DPH
• Credit and debit cards
• Cash (no bills larger than $50)

Records Search - $12 per Record Requested

We can search for birth, death, marriage, and divorce records. If we can locate the record you request, the search fee will pay for 1 certified copy. However, even when a record cannot be located, the search fee is nonrefundable.

DHEC's Office of Public Health Statistics and Information Services (PHSIS) offers a wide range of services to customers. PHSIS oversees the statewide operation of vital records registration, field consulting, correction and certification. The Division of Vital Records is the state's official records keeper for vital information pertaining to births, deaths, marriages, and divorces occurring in South Carolina. Demand for vital records services is high.

Immediate family members of the decedent's family or the legal representative of an immediate family member may obtain a certified copy of a death certificate. Other applicants may be provided a statement that the death occurred, including the date and county of death, but not an actual certified copy of a death certificate.

Request a South Carolina Death Certificate

1. Online

Average processing time is 5-7 business days.

Please make sure your envelope is addressed to Vital Records for all mail requests. 

Certified copies of the Report of Divorce are available from DHEC for divorces that were decreed between July 1962 and December 2022.

Apply for a Report of Divorce

1. Online or by phone through VitalChek

Average processing time is 5-7 business days.

Please make sure your envelope is addressed to "Vital Records" for all mail requests.

Records are available for marriages between July 1950 and December 2022. For marriage records prior to or after these dates, you will need to contact the Probate Court that originally issued the marriage license. Find the Probate Court in your county.

Section 44-63-140 of the South Carolina Code was amended effective May 16, 2023, to allow adoptees, age 18 or older, who were born in South Carolina, to obtain a copy of the adoptee's original birth certificate and any evidence of the adoption held with the original birth record, if the biological parent has completed the necessary forms consenting to the release of the certificate or is deceased. A biological parent may also indicate their contact preference and consent to release medical history information.

The South Carolina Vital Records offices issue birth certificates for births that occurred in South Carolina since 1915.

You may request a certified copy of a birth certificate if you are: